Method of making wire reinforced flexible hose



p il 26, 1955 c. H. BEARE ET AL 2,707,017

METHOD OF MAKING WIRE REINFORCED FLEXIBLE HOSE Filed March 3 1951 United States Patent Qfilice METHOD OF MAKING WIRE REINFORCED FLEXIBLE HOSE Charles H. Beare, Stanley R. Carson, and Russel L. Monbeck, Dayton, Ohio, assignors to General Motors orporation, Detroit, ich., a corporation of Dela ware Application March 3, 1951, Serial No. 213,704 3 (Ilairns. (Cl. 154--8) tubing having a especially flexible air hose such as is now commonly used as air ducts in tape, and immediately wrapping the emerging tape into helical form to form a hose structure, then subsequently curing and integrating the wrapped hose structure.

eretofore attempts to use a wire-reinforced tape which has been extruded from a rubber or similar plasdislocated in the a very important feature of the is: the coiling and setting of a springy wire into circular shape prior to leading said wire thru the extrusion aperture. The length of the The helically coiled bare wire axially mov ing rotating mandrel but is not driven thereby as said Thus the wire and is carried aperture by the extruded material itself so h the Wire and the extruded tape have exactly Other objects and features of this invention will become apparent from the following description.

In the drawings:

.Fig. 1 is a front end elevation of the essential parts of the apparatus made according to this invention.

w E37 and 38 2,707,017 Patented Apr. 26, 1-955.-

partly in longitudinal section.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

umeral designates the extruder machine having an extrusion die 11 bolted to the outlet end an extrusion aperture 13 therein shaped in outline according to the desired sectional shape of the tape of plastic material to be formed thereby. Aperture 13, as here shown, is enlarged at its center 14 to provide a bead 15 in the extruded tape 16 in which the reinforcing wire is imbedded as hereinafter described.

A rotating and axially travelling mandrel 29 is mounted upon suitable drive rollers 22 and a series of suitable 21 spaced along its length to aperture 13. Preferably mandrel passes as closely adjacent to the extrusion aperture hich progressively bends .Sii into a self-retaining helical form. Wire 30 is forced endwise by two pairs of opposed driven rollers which grip the wire therebetween and force it upwardly 39' to the coiling die 36. able and welleknown form of wire coiler may be used instead of the The bare wire helix, designated given a slightly larger rotates and Fig. l).

extrusion aperture 13. A stationary wire ing a curved duct 52 therein springs wire 30 outwardly and guiles it in such will not destroy its coiled set to a point aligned with the center of enlargement closely adjacent thereto stricted in diameter at 11.3 outlet end 55 to fit closely around wire 3 as it emerges therefrom in order to minimize any tendency of the compressed plastic compound to enter duct 52.

The plastic compound is forced thru extension aperture 13 at high pressure in a well known manner. bedded wire 30 is aperture 13 by the force of the compressed compound adhering thereto.

spring back into coiled shape. Thus tape 16 can be readily wrapped around mandrel 20 without wire 31) cutting thru the relatively soft and weak extruded material surrounding same. At the beginning of the operation of the apparatus the initially extruded end of tape 16 is fixed to the surface of the rotating mandrel 20 merely by being pressed into adherence thereto and preferably wrapped around said mandrel 20 one or several turns to more securely fasten tape 16 to the smooth mandrel 20 is coordinated with its rate of rotation to provide the desired pitch in the wrapped helix 60 of Wire reinforced extruded tape 16. Fig. shows how the successive turns of tape 16 overlap one another when tape 16 is wrapped upon mandrel 20. The peripheral speed of rotation of mandrel is made equal to the speed at which tape 16 emerges from the extrusion aperture, so that tape 16 is uniformly wrapped upon the rotating mandrel 20 without mandrel 20 exerting any substantial tension on tape 16 such as would tend tov straighten out the free gradually curving path of said tape from the extrusion aperture to the point where the tape first contacts mandrel 20. This free curved path is clearly shown in Fig. 2. Also from Fig. 2 it is clear that the curved path of wire from the time it issprung radially outward from the bare coil 50 to the time the wire-reinforced tape 16 is wrapped upon mandrel'20 is so smooth and gradual that the inherent urge of the wire to spring back to its coiled shape is not destroyed.

The apparatus, after having been started as described above, may obviously be run continuously to produce a continuous length of wrapped hose 60 so long as mandrel 20 is in effect kept in continuous length by adding additional sections to the end thereof, as described above. At the outlet end of the apparatus the wrapped hose 60 may be cutoff into sections at the joint between two sections of mandrel 20 by any suitable automatic cutting means in a manner now well known in the art. The cutoff sections of hose 60 while still wrapped upon the corresponding sections of mandrel 20 may be then vulcanized or cured in any suitable well known manner. After vulcanization, the mandrel section may be removed from the hose section after first loosening the hose from the mandrel by progressively slightly twisting the yieldable hose in the direction which will tend to unwrap the wire reinforcernent and cause it to spring outwardly from the mandrel and thereby increase the diameter of the wrapped hose sufficiently to break its slight bond to the mandrel. Preferably the mandrel is originally coated with a suitable soap or other solution to minimize the adherence of the vulcanized hose thereto.

Fig. 5 illustrates the structure of the wrapped hose 60. In the form shown, the extruded tape 16 is given an auxiliary edge bead 17 which has no reinforcing wire therein. In the-wrapped hose this bead 17 reinforces and strengthens the overlapping portions of tape 16 as clearly shown in Fig. 5. In the final vulcanized hose the helical beads 17 aid in retaining the hose walls in circular shape and in effect are auxiliary to the wire-reinforced beads 15 for this purpose, but do not interfere with the necessary distortion of the hose Walls when the hose is suitably bent at any desired angle when located in its final installations.

While the embodiment of herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In a method for forming flexible tubing, the steps comprising: continuously forming a wire into a helix, advancing the helix axially from its forming station, passing a moving portion only of said helix through an extrusion aperture from a plastic extruder, continuously extruding a tape of plastic materials through said aperture and around said helix, and then continuously wrapping the thus formed wire reinforced tape in overlapping turns for forming a tubular structure.

2. In a method for forming a flexible reinforced tubing, the steps comprising: continuously wrapping a wire in helical form around the mandrel while moving the mandrel axially thereof for forming a helix with the wire upon the mandrel, continuously enlarging at least one turn of said helix and passing said enlarged turn through a plastic extruder aperture, continuously extruding plastic tape material around said wire as the wire emerges from said aperture and continuously wrapping said wire reinforced tape in overlapping relation upon said mandrel for forming a tubular structure having a helical Wire reinforcement therein.

3. In a method for forming a wire reinforced flexible tubing, the steps comprising: continuously forming a helix of reinforcing Wire, progressively extruding plastic tape material onto a portion of said helix for forming a continuous length of material having a preformed wire therein and continuously overlapping said tape material with the wire embedded therein upon a mandrel to form a tube.

the present invention as References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 815,571 Williams Mar. 20, 1906 2,513,106 Prendergast June 27, 1950 2,516,864 Gilmore et al. Aug. 1, 1950 2,539,853 Meyers et al. Ian. 30, 1951 2,584,208 Holmgren Feb. 5, 1952 2,642,898 Acock et al. June 23, 1953 

